1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of 3-Dimensional (3D) capture of the physical world. More specifically, the present invention relates to capturing and aligning multiple 3D scenes with one another as well as extrapolating missing 3D scenes.
2. Description of the Related Art
While methods for capturing 3D information have existed for over a decade, known methods are typically expensive and require complex hardware such as light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors.
The emergence of 3D capture devices that not only capture color but that are also inexpensive, such as the PrimeSense Ltd. hardware in Microsoft Corporation's Kinect™, has made it possible for 3D scenes and objects to automatically be reconstructed from multiple 3D captures by non-technical users. Current alignment software, however, is limited in its capabilities and ease of use. Existing alignment methods, such as the Iterative Closest Point algorithm (ICP), require users to manually input an initial rough alignment, which exceeds the capabilities of most nontechnical users.
As a matter of context, 3D reconstruction technology should be distinguished from 3D filming techniques. 3D filming techniques do not perform any 3D reconstruction. 3D filming techniques instead capture a scene from two different points of view so that those scenes may later be shown to a viewer via a 3D display. The 3D geometry of the captured scene in the context of 3D filming is never calculated by a computer; the raw stereo image is simply passed on to the viewer for perception.